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The Football Lads Alliance (FLA) march in London last Saturday, saw large crowds (estimated between 5,000 to 20,000) gathered to protest Islamic extremism. The stated aim, at least from the organisers, was to demand the arrest, internment and or deportation of 23,000 ‘extremists’ without trial.

The last few days have sometimes felt a bit like the end of the world, or at the very least, the beginning of a new era. Trump’s ascendancy seems to have sparked a new wave of repression and resistance, and the far-right across both the US and Europe is on the march.

Short answer: no.

A few days ago, Brighton and Hove News published this article. It’s an interview with Matthew Cook, one of the organisers of this year’s Kemp Town Carnival. In it, Mr Cook argues we should ignore the planned fascist march in Brighton, and leave it to the Police to deal with, whilst we all party it up at the carnival.

Since “just ignore them” is a fairly common message we get sent, we thought we’d look in a little bit of depth at why this is such a bad idea.

Displaying openly Nazi symbols is illegal in many countries, so European fascists have taken to using a plethora of symbols, logos and codes to hide their real views. This fashion has spread to British Fascists as well, so we’ve written a short guide to help people understand the confusing world of far-right iconography. Know your enemy!

Yesterday saw the EDL drag their limp corpse through Luton again, despite it being as plain as the nose on your face that everybody hates them, and nobody wants them there.

Some of the assembled antifascists give the EDL a hard time.

Whilst the local Asian community defended their area and made it amply clear the EDL would not enter Bury Park district, the UAF, North London antifascists and the AFN (including a large contingent from Brighton) assembled and held a rally. Whilst this was on-going, several groups of autonomous antifascists slipped through the police cordon and found their way to the EDL pen, getting out a banner and giving them some abuse.

Some of the militant antifascists in Luton yesterday.

Meanwhile, the EDL, who had barely managed to pull 300 people for a national demonstration in their hometown, where largely confined to the outskirts of town by the Police, were they chanted to empty streets and a small audience of hostile locals.

This is the end of the EDL “marching season”, and it’s certainly ended with a whimper, not a bang. Hardly a triumphant return, more of a soggy walk, the EDL had a shit time, leaving the question hanging in the air: how many of them will return for the next marching season? Brighton antifascists will be there to find out.